185. Automotive Joint Ventures (Revised)
Guan Yuehua and her family of three had just left when Lin Sitian and Chen Lizhong arrived.
"I just saw Sister Yuehua at the alley entrance," Lin Sitian whispered to Guan Yuehe. "Sister Yuehua looks even fiercer now."
When she was little, no one dared to bully her because she had a mischievous older brother. In the whole alley, she was afraid of her neighbor, Yuehua.
“A good official has to be a bit stern.” Thinking of something, Guan Yuehe laughed twice and said, “Anyway, my brother-in-law said she has a particularly good temper.”
Lin Sitian wasn't surprised; Yuehe had even said her brother was handsome. She understood the saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
"Ah!" As soon as Lin Sitian entered the door, Lin Ting was already waiting with his hand outstretched.
"Here you are, here you are, Auntie will hold you." Lin Sitian picked up Lin Ting and coaxed her for a while before handing the baby over to Chen Lizhong. She hadn't forgotten the main purpose of her return today.
"Have you encountered anything particularly interesting while traveling abroad? Tell me about it."
Guan Yuehe then recounted her experiences abroad once again.
It's a pity the photos she brought back haven't been developed yet; otherwise, she could have shown them to everyone directly instead of racking her brains trying to figure out how to describe what she saw.
After listening, Lin Sitian clicked her tongue twice, "No wonder our hospital's vice president has been inquiring about how college students can study abroad all year."
Given the gap between China and developed countries, it's normal to have such thoughts.
“Your director has a long-term vision. If he can really get a government-sponsored scholarship for studying abroad, he will definitely be sought after by good employers when he comes back.”
Lin Sitian snorted, "I'm afraid they'll take the national talent training quota and go abroad, only to return after they've completed their studies."
Guan Yuehe had heard other colleagues discuss this issue several times during her three months away from home. This situation is unavoidable; some people are devoted to their country, while others are devoted to their own. In the end, it all comes down to individual conscience.
This was something they couldn't stop, so the two sighed and avoided the topic.
"I brought you gifts, wait for me."
Guan Yuehe took out a box. "Xu Cheng's has already been delivered, so only Ding Xuewen's is left. By the way, have he and Zhi Qiu decided on a date for the banquet?"
"I guess it will be on May Day."
"Has he already bought all the major items for his home? What should we send him?"
Lin Sitian: "Same as always, let's chip in and buy something big."
Guan Yuehe snorted, "Thinking about it now, getting married late has its advantages. Before, we had to scrape together money and ration coupons to buy enamel basins and thermos flasks, but now... we can just give away an electric fan?"
"That's fine too. The electric fan he has is the same one Chen Lizhong gave him before." Lin Sitian nodded in agreement, "He got married at a good time. If I had known, I would have gotten married two years later, haha!"
Seeing that Chen Lizhong had already carried Lin Ting out, Guan Yuehe no longer held back, saying, "Didn't you say that men become useless as they get older...?"
Lin Sitian winked at her, "Don't you even know where I work?"
The clanging of motorcycles outside the alley entrance immediately stopped their whispering.
A short while later, Lin Yiku parked the car and went inside. Seeing their serious expressions, he knew that they had most likely been talking badly about him.
If Lin Sitian knew that her brother was thinking this way, she would definitely stuff the motorcycle ticket she brought back into her pocket and take it with her.
To make commuting easier, Lin Yiku asked relatives and friends for help finding a motorcycle ticket. In the end, Chen Lizhong got it sorted out.
The next day, Guan Yuehe rode her motorcycle back to work in a hurry.
When she returned, she found several more motorcycles in the bicycle shed.
When she returned to the office after three months, she had no time to adjust. She only had to greet her colleagues before throwing herself into the joint venture project at Five Star Motors.
The automotive joint venture negotiations, which began in 1979, lasted for more than four years. Several negotiation teams were changed along the way, and no one participated in the negotiations from beginning to end. Guan Yuehe was considered to have stayed in the negotiations for a relatively long time. The negotiations even seemed to fall apart several times, but now a new turning point has arrived.
Therefore, Guan Yuehe, who had just returned from a business trip, was often so busy that Lin Ting was already drooping her eyelids before she came back. The next morning, she would hurriedly grab her briefcase and leave as soon as Lin Ting woke up.
One day, Lin Yiku started replacing her bicycle with a motorcycle. The two bicycles in the house, having temporarily fulfilled their purpose, were placed in a small room, just like the old television set.
As we accumulate more and more belongings, our once spacious home has become cramped.
"Let's see if there are any suitable small courtyard houses we can buy outside."
They both have high salaries, so they can save a lot of money. Plus, they both own motorcycles now, which expands their shopping options considerably.
Lin Yiku agreed, but after half a minute she didn't hear her continue. Turning her head, she found that she had fallen asleep.
Lin Yiku casually helped her lift the blanket that had been kicked away.
The next day, seeing that Guan Yuehe seemed to have forgotten about buying the small courtyard, Lin Yiku didn't mention it again.
Seeing how busy she is now, she doesn't even have time to study in the evenings. Let's wait until she's done with this busy period before talking about it. Anyway, buying a house isn't something that can be done overnight.
—
It wasn't until half a month later that Guan Yuehe realized that Lin Ting seemed to wait for her to come back before she would go to sleep, and she would insist on getting up the next day to see her.
But when Guan Yuehe tried to coax her to call her "Mom," she shook her head like a rattle.
When Lin Ting received Ding Xuewen and Ye Zhiqi's wedding invitation in late April, she leaned over to look at it, then pointed to the candy next to her and said, "I'll eat it, Mom, I'll eat it."
Guan Yuehe exclaimed in surprise, "Your mother has finally come back to life! That's really something!"
It was worth it; the whole family seized every opportunity to point at Guan Yuehe and correct Lin Ting: "Look, this is your mother."
After more than half a month of correction, Lin Ting finally stopped pointing at the photo on the dresser and calling out "Mom," but he also stopped calling Guan Yuehe "Mom."
Even today, for the sake of a piece of candy, this little glutton has finally changed his mind.
However, even if Lin Ting calls out "Mom" all day long, Guan Yuehe will not give her any candy.
Sitian specifically reminded them that many children in the pediatric ward of the Workers' Hospital have bad teeth because they eat too much sugar and don't like to brush their teeth. She told them, as parents, to pay attention to their children's dental problems, otherwise they won't be able to chew the delicious foods they want to eat later.
"Mommy, eat~" Lin Ting tried to get through by acting cute, but Guan Yuehe shook her head and refused, putting away all the candy. She picked Lin Ting up and said, "Let's go to Grandpa Li's house to see the puppy."
Lin Ting was still struggling, wanting both candy and to see the puppy. When she was picked up, she twisted and turned like a pretzel.
The little dog that Grandpa Li raised nearly ten years ago is now an old dog. Recently, this old dog brought a puppy back from outside. Every time Lin Ting passes by Grandpa Li's house, he wants to go in and take the puppy away.
Outside the gate of Courtyard No. 3, Aunt Hua, who was washing the puppy, greeted Lin Ting with a smile and told her to stay away so as not to get her clothes wet.
Lin Ting couldn't wait to go over there, so she could play in the water and play with the puppy.
Guan Yuehe didn't stop her. She brought out a small stool from Aunt Hua's house and sat down to watch Lin Ting make things worse.
Feeling bad about it, he helped Aunt Hua carry water and filled the water tank.
Seeing that the usually busy Guan Yuehe was taking a rare moment of leisure in the alley, the neighbors brought over small stools to chat with her.
"Yuehe, has the joint venture project for our car factory been finalized?"
“Once the contract in black and white is signed, that’s the beginning,” Guan Yuehe replied.
"I heard that the signing will be held at the Great Hall of the People on the 5th of next month, which is only a few days away."
"The contract has already been signed, how can this only be considered the beginning?"
Everyone else looked at Guan Yuehe.
In fact, there was a lot of debate within Five Star Motors regarding the joint venture, with both supporters and opponents.
Not to mention the Five Star Automobile Factory, even Guan Yuehe and the other people involved in the negotiations were unsure of what to do. They would report the entire content of each negotiation in detail.
Guan Yuehe was only responsible for negotiation work, and her department was also responsible for supervising foreign-invested enterprises' compliance with laws, regulations and contracts and coordinating to resolve problems.
Once the joint venture is established, there will inevitably be various problems in its operation, as the Jianguo Hotel, which was jointly established previously, serves as a cautionary tale.
Faced with her neighbors' curiosity, Guan Yuehe said helplessly, "Isn't it only after the contract is signed that we can proceed to the next step of building the factory and setting up the production line?"
"Oh, is that so?" The neighbors were disappointed, thinking that Yuehe was about to tell some big secret.
Upon closer reflection, I realized I was overthinking it. Yuehe had never been the type to have a big mouth; she only loved to show off her own things.
Seeing that they couldn't get any gossip out of Guan Yuehe, the elderly couple gave up. Someone was the first to ask, "Is Ding Laosi having a wedding banquet? Has he sent invitations to your neighbors in courtyard number three? When is the banquet?"
"Anyway, we didn't receive it at home," Aunt Xie said, shrugging.
Aunt Xu pursed her lips, "The three Ding brothers didn't receive any invitations, so it's not surprising that we neighbors didn't either."
They clearly don't want to associate with them.
But then again, he doesn't live in Ginkgo Hutong anymore, and he doesn't work at the Five Star Automobile Factory. Once he's no longer in those two places, Ding Xuewen really doesn't need to maintain these neighborly relationships.
Aside from the Guan and Lin families, only Grandpa Li, Grandma Hua, and Grandpa Ming in Ginkgo Alley received invitations.
At this point, some people thought of asking Guan Yuehe to help them find a partner.
"Sure," Guan Yuehe readily agreed.
The neighbors were only happy for two seconds when they heard Guan Yuehe say, "Write down your children's information and what kind of partner you're looking for. I'll post it all on my outer wall. When more people come looking for me, you can go look on the wall and maybe you'll find the right one."
Guan Yuehe thought about it more and more and felt that this matter was reliable. "It's open and transparent, and there are no matchmakers cheating or deceiving people in the middle. I think it's feasible!"
"By the way, is anyone here willing to help introduce someone to someone?"
The elderly men and women fell silent, quietly picked up their small stools, and moved back to the alley entrance.
At the gate of Courtyard No. 3, without the noisy gossip, Lin Ting's barking seemed particularly prominent.
Jiang Guiying returned from outside carrying a basket and saw Lin Ting, who was half-soaked, and Guan Yuehe sitting beside him, laughing and calling Lin Ting a drowned rat...
"The kid's going to catch a cold soon... Your mom's unreliable, and you're just as troublesome. No more barking, calling for Mom won't help. Go home and change your clothes!"
Lin Ting knew who could save her right now, so she called Guan Yuehe "Mom" repeatedly, making up for all the times she hadn't called her before.
Guan Yuehe took two steps forward, picked up the baby and ran, saying, "I'll take her home to change her."
Lin listened and laughed nonstop.
Having done bad things together, Lin Ting and Guan Yuehe's feelings for each other quickly intensified within just half an hour.
Guan Yuehe tentatively kissed her, and Lin Ting immediately returned the kiss. The chubby girl smiled sweetly and tentatively pushed her luck, saying, "Mommy, have some candy."
"...Sugar-coated bullets won't work on me." Guan Yuehe pinched her chubby cheek. "I withstood your dad's sugar-coated bullets, which are much bigger than yours. Don't even think about it, you won't get any candy today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow."
Just as Lin Ting was about to pout, Guan Yuehe immediately diverted her attention, "Do you want to listen to a picture book? Mommy will tell you one."
"Yes!" Lin Ting leaned against her chest, but after listening for a while, she couldn't understand what her mother was saying.
Lin Ting quickly became drowsy and fell asleep.
Yuanbao, who was outside the door, grimaced as he listened and tiptoed back home.
Jin Junwei saw her return empty-handed and asked, "Is your Aunt Yuehe not home?"
"Aunt Yuehe is putting my little sister to sleep. I'll go borrow some coal later."
Jin Junwei believed her and reminded her to pack her things first, saying that she needed to go to the Children's Palace for her martial arts class early today.
Yuanbao breathed a sigh of relief. Aunt Yuehe was terrifying; she actually used a foreign language to lull someone to sleep. Lin Ting was also so pitiful, having to start learning a foreign language at such a young age.
—
Guan Yuehe only took this one day off in the entire month of April.
In the following days, he was so busy that he didn't have time to rest. He handed the money over to Lin Sitian and told her to discuss with Xu Cheng and the others what to send as a gift.
"I won't be able to go and help on May Day; I have things to do at work."
Ding Xuewen and Ye Zhiqi chose the Sunday after May Day to hold their wedding banquet, also to accommodate Ye Zhiqi's family's schedule.
Knowing that she would be attending and witnessing the signing of the joint venture project of Five Star Automobile Factory after four years of negotiations on the 5th, Lin Sitian told her to just focus on her work.
"Aren't you nervous?" Lin Sitian asked curiously.
"I don't know, we haven't even reached the signing ceremony yet." Since she joined the foreign trade department, she has gradually become involved in the joint venture project of Five Star Automobile Factory, and her emotions have been smoothed out.
"Once you're done with your work, let's go get some big meat buns!" Lin Sitian said, "No family members allowed."
Guan Yuehe immediately covered Lin Ting's ears, "Whoever goes back on their word is a dog!"
Author's Note: [Cat's paw]
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